Nine Levels of Despair

Here is the full version of a project I did years ago and just finished recently.

Dragon Age: Much better than Anticipated

Dragon Age: Origins IS the best rpg on the Ps3, and it's what the system needed.. More RPGs!! I finished my first play through a few days ago so it's still fresh in my mind, and what really kept bringing me back to the controller was the epic story and the feeling of personal involvement. I know many have spoken about the choices in this game. Well I feel that is this games best trait. Here you've got a game where I felt like my choices truely do matter and I will definitely be playing this game many more times through just to see how diverse this game is. I played a city elf male warrior, and didn't think twice about re rolling and trying another class. It's was just that compelling to me. Now at the same time my room mate purchased the PC version of the game, and I saw just how much more tactical control he had. I wish I had gotten this for the PC, but my specs aren't nearly up to par. I already had the ps3 anyways. The battle system was aggrivating to say the least at certain moments, but for the most part it worked fine. I would recommend this game to fans of fantasy and old bioware rpg's like baldurs gate and the likes.

The goods:

Extremely deep story elements and rich history to delve into.. There were parts in this game where I was so wrapped up in the rural dramas going on I had completely forgotten what the main plot of this tale was.. And I consider that a good thing.

DA has some really well developed characters, Morrigan for example, everything about her fascinated me, and the more I found out the more I dug deeper. Each of the characters in the game have personal side quests which I recommend you find. I only did about 3 of them so I will do more in the future play throughs.

Combat in the game plays surprisingly well even though it's on the ps3. At first there were issues with the radial menu, but after 70 hours it becomes second nature. The combat in DA is intense to the point it can become frustrating.. It wasn't ever so frustrating that I couldn't continue, just enough to egg me on to play one more time and try a different strategy.

The art direction in this game was a breath of fresh air. One thing that annoys me to no end is how ugly the characters in western rpgs, here all the models look great! While the graphic engine may seem dated, they utilized it to it's best ability. Good job Bioware.

I purchased all the DLC in this game, and I found it interesting and worth the extra 5 bucks. I'm glad they are making even more which I will definitely support!

The not so goods:

Graphically this game has issues on the ps3, there were certain points in dialogue where there would be no audio for whatever reason, losing chunks of the story.. Other issues were with actual looping of events where they would repeat. I had one friend who said that she had to watch a scene over 4-5 times because it wouldn't stop looping. Finally it stopped and she could continue with the game.. When the battles become large and intense there were issues with frame rate, but it wasn't game breaking at all. I just wish that Bioware would have ironed out these issues prior to release, or even if they patched later like many developers seem to be doing.

This obviously being a port the controller issue is apparent, the definitive version is on the PC, but those without that option the console version is just fine.

Final Thoughts:

At the end of the game there is this deep feeling of accomplishement, and it left me craving more, I can't wait to see where this all leads, and my imagination just runs wild.. I wouldn't spoil anything for anyone, but just take my advice.. If you have the time this game is well worth it. I wouldn't say it's the greatest game of all time, I was just really surprised, and it completely took me away from all the other games I was playing at the time.. And that rarely happens. :)

Fun factor: 5/5
Overall: 4/5

New MIND.IN.A.BOX album to be released in February

This February will see the release of a new album from mind.in.the.box: "R.E.T.R.O." An homage to the era of the Commodore 64 and 1980s video games, the album will even include a few cover versions of cult classics. mind.in.a.box mastermind Stefan Poiss first locked horns with the C64 when he was just 11 during his first attempts at music making. He had no idea of the classic electronic albums like "Lost Alone", "Dreamweb", and "Crossroads" he was to create later. In a way, "R.E.T.R.O." represents a return to his earliest musical roots through the medium of modern technology. We can't wait to hear the results!

www.myspace.com/mindinabox

Taken from Gothtronics.com

I am personally very excited about this news, I knew they were working on new stuff. Does this mean they'll be dropping the story book approach and this will not be linked with their previous work? We'll see what happens..

Rule Number 32: Enjoy The Little Things.

I saw Zombieland this weekend, and it taught me something.. I don't have it so bad, infact I have it fucking great. Sometimes I try to write things here and it's like.. 'Hmm what can I bitch about' but that is just silly, I mean I have nothing against bitching but it's so much better when it's real and raw. When you really feel it. I'm getting of topic, so this movie is killer, it's about this reclusive loser loner kid who drinks mountain dew and plays World of Warcraft gets his 'reality' shattered and finds out the entire world has been taken over by Zombies. Along the way he runs into other humans and hilarity ensues. So this kid has a list of rules on how to survive Zombieland, certain things like Cardio, keep your cardio up and you can always outrun the zombies, or the double tap, which means always shoot twice, and make sure they're dead. Well my personal favorite was rule number 32: Enjoy the little things, which the kid learned from a wreckless blood loving zombie killer named Talahase (no one went by their given names due to the short expectancy of life and the attachment reasons) which basically revels in the sheer art of killing zombies in unique ways..Or aquiring a Twinkie before it's expiration date. But in my own twisted mind it applies to our reality as well. I enjoy the little things, in my own version of Zombieland, such things like hearing Seth's crazy laughs, or just random singing. Or the way Nadya will suddenly hide and pounce out of corners to attack me, which she's done many times. Or spending the night in just playing RPG's for hours on end, letting myself completely drift of into alternate realities, and burst out laughing at the dialogue. I'm currently 50 hours into SMT: Persona 4 and it's the best SMT game I've played yet. I put 120 hours into SmT: Persona 3 until I completed it, just to give you an idea how insanely dense these games are. I know it sounds extremely dorky, but I love it, these are extremely thought out story lines and plots, with well developed characters that you just can help but love. See? Give me room to talk about it and I could do so forever. Anyways these little things keep me sane.. Keep me going in a sense, making Zombieland a little less of a burden to deal with. Oh and on an end note the movie is worth seeing to, for all of those who care.

Peace,
Dal.

Hitchcock.

Fall is almost here, I can see the leaves changing, and it rained for most of the day. I like how on days like this the clouds become so big and dark. It adds many dimensions to the every day lull. This morning I woke up and Hitchcock had died. He was a dove Nadya and I found on our back porch, I think he must have been attacked by one of the neighbor cats. I was just smoking a cigarette like I usually do, and there he was just sitting at the base of the porch all crippled and sad looking. I was struck with a moral dilemma, and couldn't really decide if I should just leave him there, or take him in and try to revive him. Nadya came out and I showed her, and she instantly brought it food and wanted to help. After that it was an easy decision because obviously we were going to try to help. So, we found a box and made a bed for him, put a dish with bird feed and some water. Honestly for a while there it seemed like he was doing so much better, he was cooing, and sitting up properly, and I actually felt like even though it was so little, I was doing something good. I came up with the name Hitchcock, like in the director of the famous movie about birds. Nadya liked it so it stuck. Yesterday he wasn't doing so well, and so we decided to take him to a animal shelter nearby and see if they could help, but yesterday was Sunday and these places are closed on Sunday. So we were going to take him today, but when I saw him this morning he was laying dead in his makeshift home/box. I honestly felt terrible, because he didn't make it. In a short amount of time, I felt I had a bit of a bond with that little birds life.

"Great Shipwreck Of Life"

That title pretty much sums it up, I took it from the latest IAMX album, The Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction, I highly recommend it. It's a song about things not quite working out the way you expected. At least that's what I've gotten from it, I wish I could report that things are going well, but they're not. Now, I've also drawn this picture, hopefully it'll shine some light into the situation. I don't know where things are going right now, I'm feeling fairly horrible, perhaps this weekends road trip through southeastern Utah will help. We're searching for ghosts, but maybe I'll also learn to see some ghost that haunt me on a daily basis.

Vicariously I live while the whole world dies.

Brushes with death often stir people to re evaluate their lives, what seems to be your last few moments of life stream vivid images of everything and nothing. I write this because, I just spoke with a guest here at the hotel who visibly is shaken and depressed to the core. Last night there was a huge thunderstorm, and as he told me what happend, you could see his eyes welling up with tears, the fear stricken across his face. I offered as much comfort as I could, but really there isn't much to say. I've known this guest for years, can't say I particularly like the guy, but I honestly felt bad for him. He explained to me that last night as he was flying into Salt Lake International, the pilot told all passengers after 7 circles and 3 attempts to land, (one attempt just 200 feet above the airport, resulting in the wind nearly slamming the plane into the ground)they'd be flying to a nearby airport in Idaho. Halfway to that airport, the pilot then announced that they wouldn't be able to make it to Idaho, because they were running out of fuel, so they turned around and litterally had to glide the plane on empty into the airport here in SLC. The way the guest described it, everyone on the plane was screaming, panic stricken, absolute chaos. I just felt for the guy, I once had a brush with death, many many years ago, while I was still in my teens, some people say that it's a second chance to see the world differently, or that there was some sort of higher power who decided that it wasn't my time yet. Well I think that's pure bullshit. Chaos ensues, and the cards fall where they may. A plane went down over the atlantic, from Brazil to Paris, there were no survivors, aparantly 'god' has a dark sense of humor.